“Not returning anymore? What do you mean?” Liu Qian squeezed his knees for some time before he composed himself and asked.
A few days ago, Qi Hui wanted Liu Qian to help Jiang Mingyue with her experiment and had threatened to withhold funding if he refused to do it. However, Qi Hui ended up going against his word and stole the funding entirely.
Zhao Lian also looked a little annoyed.
Qi Hui had approached him asking to borrow Bioinformatics’ funding previously, but he did not agree to it. He even warned Qi Hui not to do it, but he ended up asking Prof Liu about it behind his back.
In reality, the government funded millions of dollars every year for research. This funding would not even be enough to purchase basic research equipment. Moreover, the government usually provided funding in the hundreds of millions.
Zhao Lian gathered his thoughts and said, “The university has decided to hold the funding for your division. You have to apply for it when you need funding.”
The moment Liu Qian heard about this, veins popped up on the back of his hands for a long time before they subsided. “Does that mean the division won’t get any funding this quarter?”
Zhao Lian raised his head and looked at Liu Qian. “I’m sorry.”
Zhao Lian was the most senior professor in the Biology department. Also, he was a senior member of the research institute. Other than research, he did not have to do any actual teaching. Naturally, he was not in charge of money.
Since Zhao Lian had interacted with Liu Qian several times, he knew that things were hard in Bioinformatics, so he specially called Liu Qian over to speak to him about this.
Liu Qian smiled sadly as he shook his head. He ought to have guessed what Qi Hui would try to do with the funding.
“I am working on a research project, so I need thorough data analysis. I think you are perfect for the job. We might just be able to develop new methods to collect large amounts of data,” said Zhao Lian with a serious expression on his face.
Liu Qian stopped thinking about the funding for now. He was briefly stunned before he asked. “New methods of data collection?”
“Biological computers are already being used widely. Data management is trending overseas. Biomimetics is also an up and coming subject,” said Zhao Lian.
Liu Qian raised his head and looked at Prof Zhao.
Zhao Lian stood up from his seat to retrieve a set of documents which he had prepared in advance and turned to give it to Liu Qian. “Why don’t you take a look at this and tell me what you think?”
Liu Qian looked at the documents and paused for a couple of seconds before taking them from Prof Zhao.
After opening the folder and reading the first page briefly, he suddenly looked at Prof Zhao. “You…”
Zhao Lian looked calm as he said, “Your division has been quiet for a long time. It’s time for you to do something new.”
The moment they started working on the project, they would need funding. Liu Qian suddenly realized why Prof Zhao asked to see him today and even brought up the funding matter.
Liu Qian held the folder tightly as he stood up and bowed at Zhao Lian. “Prof Zhao, thank you so much.”
Zhao Lian was uninvolved in department administrative matters, so funding was not within his job scope. But he could help in another way!
Zhao Lian waved his hand and smiled. “Good luck.”
Liu Qian acknowledged softly before looking at the documents in his hands.
The division had kept a low profile for so long that everyone else was starting to think they were pushovers.
Zhao Lian told Liu Qian to take a seat. A thought crossed his mind and he asked. “Oh yes. There is a freshman called Huo Yao in your division, right? The top Arts scholar. Do you know her?”
